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Chelsea need more signings to follow Bakayoko, Desailly claims

17 July 2017 19:01

Tiemoue Bakayoko is a good signing for Chelsea but the Premier League champions need more arrivals ahead of the new season, according to the club's former defender Marcel Desailly.

Bakayoko was Antonio Conte's second capture of the transfer window, the midfielder joining from Monaco in a move reported to be worth £40million, following Roma defender Antonio Rudiger's switch to Stamford Bridge.

Desailly says fellow Frenchman Bakayoko will slot in immediately at Chelsea but called for the club to be more active in the transfer window, having missed out on former striker Romelu Lukaku, who instead joined Manchester United from Everton for £75m.

"He will fit in the system. He can defend, he can also project himself and he's coming into a team that is tactically very well organised, so he can fit quickly," Desailly told Omnisport. "I am sure he will adapt to the system and he will bring Chelsea to a different level, so I'm very pleased, very pleased.

"But we need more. We need more if you want to compete on these two different competitions, Champions League and Premier League, so we are hoping [for] more, we are really hoping [for] more.

"This year is a special market, we can see that it's very tough. Everyone is moving round, the prices are very high, so let's wait till the end. Chelsea knows, really, how to buy players so I am sure they will trust the philosophy and desire for Conte."

Speaking at indoor football competition Star Sixes, the 1998 World Cup winner also suggested there needs to be more patience with the world's most expensive footballer Paul Pogba, who had a mixed first season under Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.

Nemanja Matic has been linked with a switch from Chelsea to reunite with Mourinho and Desailly believes the signing of a more defensively-minded midfielder would benefit Pogba.

"I think we are expecting too much from him straightaway from the beginning, he is still young, you know he is around 24 years old and he's not a playmaker and he just needs to fit into Mourinho's system," Desailly said.

"That's why they wanted to have a new defensive midfielder, for him to be along people that can defend really strongly, for him to be express himself... so young, talented, don't mind the price.

"You have to pay very expensive for these kind of players so don't look at [the] price, people have to be patient because he is very, very talented - he will prove it."